Former Hartlepool United boss Simon Grayson.placeholder image
Former Hartlepool United boss Simon Grayson. | Adam Cook, The Corner Photogaphy
The former Hartlepool United boss has been speaking about his exit.
Grayson, who was sacked after just 15 games at the helm, winning four, drawing seven and losing four of those National League matches, becomes the ninth permanent manager to leave Pools since the departure of promotion-winning boss Dave Challinor in November 2021 - of those, eight have been sacked while veteran Lennie Lawrence opted to stand down last season.
Of the last five permanent managers or head coaches, none has lasted more than 17 games in the role. Having replaced head coach Anthony Limbrick in June, Grayson set about on a complete overhaul of the Pools squad over the summer, welcoming 14 new signings but the season quickly unravelled after a promising start.
Pools are yet to appoint his successor, with experienced midfield veteran Nicky Featherstone currently in interim charge at the club. One name who was strongly interested in the role was former defender Peter Hartley. He took to social media on X on Wednesday night to declare he would be taking a step back in terms of his interest in the role. However, his post was later deleted, leaving uncertainty over whether he could yet still be appointed.
Meanwhile, Grayson has been reflecting on his time at the club. Grayson, speaking exclusively to BBC Tees Sport, when reflecting on losing his job, said: “It was frustrating and disappointing when you lose your job, because when I spoke to Raj in the summer it was all about, look, he chased me for a long time and we had a few obstacles to overcome in terms of where the club was, etc.
“But I just felt that we could do that. I've never been frightened of a challenge and I trusted my ability that I would get things going on and off the pitch. Unfortunately, the one thing you don't get in football these days, not just at Hartlepool, it's just the general world of football is time, really. You've seen so many managers leave their jobs so quickly, Premier League, Championships and beyond. But in the past, that has been a big commodity to have where you can have time to build and overcome a few dodgy spells or a couple of dodgy results that can see you through for success. But hey, it happened and of course I was disappointed.
“My pride was hurt because I felt that I could still achieve something and get to where we wanted to get to. It wasn't as if we were languishing in the bottom half of the division and lost five on the bounce or anything like that. We were only four points off the play-offs at the time. Yeah, of course we'd drawn too many games, but we'd only lost four games and three of them were against Forest Green, Carlisle and York who were flying high at the top of the division.
“So yeah, it's frustrating, but I know what football's about and I'm not naive enough to know what I was going into and obviously it didn't work out how I'd liked it to work out. Look, the pressure that I feel is when it's a pressure I put on myself, because I know that I've been in the game nearly 800 games and 40 years nearly as playing as well.
“And I know that when results are not going well, something could potentially happen but there were circumstances everybody knows that probably didn't quite help us. There was a few injuries along the way, fine margins in games where we could have gone in front in games and we missed them opportunities but yeah, of course, results speak for themselves and we drew too many games. That was the bottom line, so I'm not daft to understand that.”
Ahead of the final game in the Grayson era, the draw with Gainsborough Trinity in the FA Cup qualifying round, was Grayson beginning to feel the pressure?
He added: “Well, we'd lost to Carlisle and York the two games before, which was, if you're being realistic, we probably weren't expected to win them games anyway. But you're playing against a non-league team and you are supposed to win them games but that's the beauty of the FA Cup. I felt after that game, I'm thinking we didn't play well enough and it's the first time I've been really critical of the players in public. I didn't feel under too much pressure because I've been at clubs where you'd know you're really, really under pressure because the crowd has turned against you and the outside noise is really bad.
“But I didn't have any issues with the supporters. They were really supportive of me and even when I left, I've had lots of messages saying, I'm so disappointed that we left. We wanted you to stay and do this and do that. But obviously, crowds don't make the decisions ultimately. It's ultimately the owners who do that. So it happened and you look back, you analyse and you think, what could have done better? What could have changed? And you reflect and you move on and you learn from it.”
When asked if there was anything he would change about his spell at Pools, he added: “Not really, no, because I was learning all the time. Even when we started the season really well, I was still coming to terms with the National League. I was still learning about our players because we brought in 14, 15 new players. So I was learning every day from the players.
“I was learning from different managers that I was speaking to after games, watching the games, more about the individuals you're playing against. So there's probably little bits that I know could have changed slightly. But I don't have any regrets about every day, what I was working with and what I was trying to achieve because of the time and effort that I put in. I spent probably as much time and effort at Hartlepool United as I'd done when I was managing at Leeds, Sunderland and all the other clubs because you didn't have as many staff. Then you're having to take on other jobs to do as well. But that was just part and parcel of my love of football and my desire to go into it and to drop into the National League in the first place.”
And how has the former Sunderland, Leeds United and Preston North End boss been filling his days since leaving his post in the North East. Grayson added: “I try and get a few things in the diary, so I've done a bit of media work. I've been golfing a little bit, plenty of dog walking. I've been to a couple of concerts as well. So, yeah, it's disappointing when you lose your job, but it's not the first time that's happened to me and I might not be the last, who knows.
“But, yeah, I've just got back on with things and getting back to a bit of family time. I've had one or two people ask me about if I wanted to go back out to Asia, which is something I might consider, but at this moment in time I'm not in too much of a rush. I am a Granddad for the first time, a little granddaughter who's four months, so it's been a bit of time to see her, seeing bits of family and, yeah, just cracking on with life. Just because you get sacked from a job, it doesn't mean it's the end of the world. Worst things can happen in life and you just move on.”
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